SAN FRANCISCO—While a small percentage of consumers have been quite vocal about their objections to Black Friday consumerism, Americans will shop when they see a deal, Anjee Solanki, national director of retail services USA for Colliers International, tells GlobeSt.com. Black Friday has also becomepart of the cermonial Thanksgiving weekend activities, she adds. A growing sense among consumers that the holiday season starts earlier each year is correct: data shows that 40% of customers start shopping before Halloween, and retailers are meeting demand by stocking shelves with holiday items such as cards and decorations as early as September.

Black Friday sales are also starting earlier, becoming more of a marathon than a sprint, with online outlets like Amazon.com launching a "Countdown to Black Friday Deals" on November 3 and Walmart promoting 10 brand-new online specials every day since November 6. But despite the earlier start to the shopping season, Thanksgiving weekend is still the busiest shopping event of the year, with more than 87 million shoppers showing up at stores the day after Thanksgiving to get the best deals and discounts—often throughout the night and into the next day.

So how will the new holiday-shopping timeline ultimately shake out at the brick-and-mortar level? "With consumer confidence up compared to prior years, spending in preparation for the holidays will continue," Solanki tells GlobeSt.com exclusively, "and it will be up to the retailers to be well prepared and stocked—maintaining a high level of service, albeit with the mad rush to get the best deal."

In recent years, many retailers have fought to maintain the Black Friday sense of urgency by opening on Thanksgiving Day, and this year is no different. A number of major department stores will be open for business on Thanksgiving Day, including Walmart, Kmart, Sears, Macy's, J.C. Penney, Target and Kohl's. Other big-name brands, however, are responding to a consumer-driven backlash and electing to stay closed on Thanksgiving Day, including Costco; Nordstrom; Bed, Bath & Beyond; and Burlington Coat Factory. These retailers are giving their employees and their families a break—but they're not really bucking nay trends. A recent study shows that 36% of Americans "hate" holiday shopping.

Still another retail approach to holiday shopping, perhaps tapping into a rising anti-consumerism sentiment, is a complete 180 to the open-all-night trend. REI has decided to close its 143 stores on Thanksgiving and stay closed on Black Friday, paying its 12,000 employees to "go out and play" and educating its customers about its overall mission that "being outside makes our lives better." With more than 800,000 people already clicking on REI's #OptOutside social media campaign, the strategy seems to be working.

This approach could signify the future of holiday marketing—and brand marketing in general. According to Advertising Age, REI's move "signals a massive shift in the way companies are doing business and marketing themselves. The new reality is that as customers become more skilled at, and have better technology for, managing their many brand relationships, they will weed out or ignore companies that fail to sufficiently understand their needs and deliver value against them. This is the new consumerism—empowered, entrepreneurial and enabled."

The other retail shoe waiting to drop, of course, is Cyber Monday, the newest holiday shopping tradition. Black Friday's competition from Cyber Monday's online sales is expected to grow by 3%—nearly three times the growth of overall retail for the holidays, says Solanki. As a result, Black Friday sales fell at the same pace in 2014.

Online sales now generate 10% of all retail sales, according to Forrester Research, and online sales have increased to 15% of sales during the holiday shopping season. Adobe Digital Index predicts that Cyber Monday sales "will reach $3 billion for the first time [in 2015], making it the largest single day for digital sales in history." And online sales are picking up on Thanksgiving Day, expected to increase by 18% to $1.6 billion this year." More than 57% of US consumers plan to shop on Cyber Monday, whereas only 35% plan to shop on Black Friday, according to Morepace Omnibus.

"A fair amount of retailers have benchmarked and analyzed historic data that they have captured, allowing them to be better educated with shopping patterns, whether in-store or online, increasing the retailers' revenue opportunity during Black Friday, Cyber Monday and during the December holiday season," says Solanki. 

Solanki gives a personal example: Increasingly more shops have discontinued carrying petite sizes in order to reduce the amount of space for other merchandise or to become efficient in smaller spaces to reduce overall occupancy costs. "They now refer me to shop online and will offer to assist in doing that, getting me more comfortable with their website and avoiding losing a customer."

With holiday shopping becoming more of a marathon than a sprint, how will retailers change their brick-and-mortar holiday marketing programs, and how will this shake out in stores? "It will be very important for the retailers to be targeted with the offering or marketing to create multiple sales opportunities during the holiday and after," says Solanki. "Creating an in-store experience will also be important. Consumers have time during the holiday, and creating a sense of discovery will keep them in the store longer, hopefully spending. I've also heard within the industry that the earlier a retailer informs the customer about upcoming specials, the less they spend in high-cost advertising the days before."

Solanki says we will also continue to see an increase in informing consumers about store specials and shopping-center events through social media such as Facebook. "More and more retailers are getting smarter about how to use technology to pull consumers into their stores. For example, it's no longer an alert you will receive on your iPhone for a 10% discount; rather, the white blouse you were looking at online is now in the store you just walked by."

The economy is still taking its time to recover, which begs the question: Are holiday retail sales expected to follow the same trajectory as the economy? "It's my opinion that sales will be slightly higher than the economic growth. Consumer spending and confidence is still up, and with retailers creating new targeted ways to inform the consumer, we should see a healthy uptick."

Beyond the holiday season, the picture also looks rosy for the retail sector. Solanki says, "Retail REITs continue to see average occupancy at 95%, with third-quarter average sales per square foot increasing from the prior year by 6% to more than $525 per square foot. Although there are concerns with associated reports surrounding lagging consumer confidence due to ecommerce and the potential of interest rates increasing, people still have a strong desire to be connected with their community. The result is a more thoughtful and focused approach by investors in creating the optimal retail mix, from food diversification to wellness services."